Fort Smith music students will help area residents and visitors get one step closer to the joys of Christmas.

The Southside High School Band’s 51st annual Christmas Concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. today at the Arkansas Best Corporation Performing Arts Center, 55 S. Seventh St.

The free, all-ages event will feature various performances by SHS’s Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band and Concert Band, and will impress all of those who attend, said Sean Carrier, SHS director of bands.

“The Christmas concert is always a great way to begin the holiday season,” he said.

Among the compositions to be performed will be “White Christmas,” “A Christmas Festival,” “Sleigh Ride” and “Arabesque,” as well as inspired takes of “Carol of the Night” and “I Saw Three Ships,” Carrier said.

“The students work very hard in a short amount of time to prepare for very challenging music,” he said.

Other songs on the night’s set list will include “The Boys of Wexford (In Honor of John Fitzgerald Kennedy - 1917-1963),” “Roll Tide,” “The Hallelujah Chorus,” “Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major” and “Fanfare Prelude on ‘Joy to the World,’” Carrier said.

“The Southside Wind Symphony and Mixed Chorus are combining to perform ‘The Hallelujah Chorus’ from Handel’s ‘Messiah,’” he said. “It’s going to be a great event for everyone.”

Carrier said he and the students are “excited” that the concert will be performed in a new venue.

“We’re using the convention center this year because the audiences at Southside High School have become so large,” he said. “This concert is going to be a great thing for the community to begin this holiday season.”